Antonio Cromartie “didn’t mean anything” by receiver comment

Antonio Cromartie’s decision to share his belief that he’s the second-best receiver on the Jets has provided plenty of fuel to the hordes that have descended on Jets training camp this summer.

Cromartie’s comment was followed by wide receiver Chaz Schilens taking offense to it while speaking to reporters and Rex Ryan saying that he’d speak to the team about paying closer attention to what they say publicly. Cromartie spoke to reporters Friday and said, somewhat predictably, that the whole thing has been blown out proportion.

“Honestly, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Cromartie said, via Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. “I simply explained why I said it … that I could be the No. 2 receiver on the team (because of) my physical traits and my work ethic. That was my opinion. Of course, you guys want to blow it up. But we’re going to let that go. At the end of the day, I’m a corner first. Whenever that time comes to go out and play receiver, then I’ll go out and go do it.”

Cromartie also said that he didn’t regret making the comment and that he still felt free to hold the opinion that he was the second-best receiver on the team. Maybe they’ll start keeping it out of the press next week?

Since every play at every Jets practice is documented with an exhaustiveness usually reserved for high-level scientific research, we know exactly how often Cromartie has been playing receiver. Cromartie took one snap in 7-on-7 drills at receiver on Friday, bringing his grand total for the week to two. That’s a pretty high conversation-to-snap ratio.